Due to anomalies - which emerged last night - "on the geographical data transmission network in support of air traffic control services across the entire national territory" there is a "temporary reduction in the management capacity of aircraft in Italian airspace". Enav itself communicated this, explaining that it had guaranteed - thanks to the activation of the foreseen contingency systems - "the regular management of air traffic until 6 this morning, without any reduction in operational capacity". But then, starting from 6 am "in consideration of the progressive increase in air traffic and the persistence of anomalies, to continue to guarantee maximum safety of operations, flow regulation measures were introduced, which entail a temporary reduction in the management capacity of aircraft in Italian airspace". The technical checks, it was reported, "identified the origin of the anomalies in the data transmission network" with experts already working "to identify the causes and restore full operation of the systems".
As the hours passed, a slight improvement was reported. "All of Enav's instruments work regularly and have not shown any anomalies. Currently, the management of flights in total safety is guaranteed by the secondary satellite network: the guaranteed routes have exceeded 50%, an increase compared to less than an hour before". Thus Enav updated on the situation, explaining that it is working to restore full functionality of the data transmission network and that "in-depth and constant work is underway with Enav's external suppliers, starting with Tim which deals with management and maintenance of the data network, to identify and resolve the anomalies that have determined the current situation". The objective is to restore full operations as soon as possible. "The use of this backup system, while ensuring the continuity of air traffic control services and the highest safety standards, does not allow 100% of air traffic to be managed, making a temporary reduction in operational capacity necessary", it was further reported.
There were several airports heavily affected by the inconveniences. At Fiumicino airport there have been repercussions on flights. Some connections have been canceled and major delays have been confirmed for some flights. During the morning, the number of canceled connections at the Capitoline airport rose to 12. From 8am to 2pm, at the moment, some flights are cancelled, including Milan Linate, Bari, Riyadh, Tirana, Turin, Trieste, Valencia, Munich, Lyon, Catania, Venice, Trapani. The airlines worked to re-protect the passengers involved on the first available flights. Around twenty delayed flights remain stable and quantifiable in this time slot, with peaks of between 60 and 120 minutes.
There are also some young athletes from the Italian Padel Federation among the passengers penalized today, at Fiumicino airport, by cancellations linked to the anomalies found by Enav on the data transmission network in the national airspace. "We had to leave for Lyon where the children, around 12 years old, coming from all over Italy and gathered in a delegation, are expected to play an international quadrangular - said a companion in the hall of Terminal 1 - It was a bad surprise, we didn't want it: now we are trying to understand how we can reach France as soon as possible and with the first flight". A three-day holiday is at risk for a group of six young Romans heading to Valencia: "Our weekend is in danger of being ruined at this point - they explain - Seven other friends were waiting for us in Spain. We are all professionals and we had asked for holidays in advance for a long time. As soon as we arrived at the airport we discovered that the flight had been canceled an hour and a half before take-off, scheduled for 12.25pm: now let's try to see if they can protect us again soon, but we have little faith in it: they are now at risk the hotel, the organisation, the expenses incurred". An unwelcome surprise not even for a manager: "I have just discovered that my flight to Bari has been cancelled: this causes me quite a few problems, because I had a work appointment".
Inconveniences were also encountered at Lombardy airports. At Malpensa the departure board indicated delays from half an hour to over two hours, while arrivals were more limited. Delays were also reported at Linate airport: from twenty minutes to an hour for arrivals, up to more than an hour for departures. Problems, similarly, at Orio al Serio airport, in the province of Bergamo, where the 6.50 Ryanair for Trapani took off an hour and a half late; an hour and twenty minutes of delay also for the same company's flight to Berlin, while the arrival of the Volotea coming from Olbia at 7.45 was scheduled after 11.
To ensure maximum safety of operations, operational capacity at Naples airport was temporarily halved, going from 28 to 14 movements per hour, with a limit of 7 arriving and 7 departing flights. 9 departure cancellations and 8 arrival cancellations were reported and an average delay of 40 minutes on all departing flights. At Salerno airport, out of 8 scheduled movements, 4 arriving and 4 departing, one cancellation was reported on arrival and one on departure and one flight departed late. The restrictions have had repercussions on the operations of both airports, with possible further delays and cancellations.
Even at Bari airport there were repercussions on flights. Four departing flights have been canceled so far: the Ita flight to Milan Linate (at 11.55am) and two Ryanair flights to Milan Orio al Serio (at 12.35pm) and to Malpensa (12.40pm) and the Wizz flight to Bucharest at 2.55pm. Four cancellations also for arrivals in Bari: the Milan Linate at 10.20, the Ryanair from Milan Orio al Serio (at 12.10) and from Malpensa (at 12.15) and the Wizz to Bucharest at 2.20. At Brindisi airport there has so far been a cancellation of the Ryanair flight from Milan Orio al Serio at 12.05.
Even at Catania airport there were repercussions on flight operations, with delays and some cancellations, due to faults in the national network. SAC, the management body of the Etna airport, announced that it had monitored the situation and invited passengers to check the status of their flight. The situation is also monitored at the Comiso airport. In the meantime, Gesap has learned that there are no longer any "restrictions" on departures from Falcone-Borsellino airport, after the delays and cancellations in the morning.
The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini, has followed with the utmost attention the slowdowns that have affected national air traffic. Since the early hours of the morning, the ministry has remained in contact with ENAV to investigate the technical causes of the anomalies found in the data transmission network and the resulting operational limitations. The minister, it was explained, "continues to closely monitor the evolution of the situation, with particular attention to the safety of operations, the need to contain inconvenience for passengers and the objective of a rapid return to full operations".
